Potty Training, Part 1

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog, but I have a great reason. Besides my other kids keeping me so busy I can hardly breathe this summer, we've been potty-training. Yay!!! Can I get a big "woo-hoo"?

When my son was born, I'd heard that he might not potty-train until he was older, like between 6 and 8. I didn't believe that. After all, I'd potty-trained 9 other children and I figured I'd be able to potty-train him at 3 or so. I also decided that the age at which he potty-trained would determine how well he'd do in other things. The later he potty-trained, the more likely he'd have other major issues.

I was wrong on both counts.

He was not interested in potty-training at 3 or 4. When he was 5, he was a little interested but not enough to actually follow through.

Last summer, when he was 6, I tried a few times but gave up after still having regular accidents 3 days into it. "Three days" seems to be the magic number, or so I thought, and when he wasn't potty-trained by then, I gave up. Another mistake. I don't think three days is any more magic than any other combination of days.

I also just used his diapers and took them off for him to use the toilet, only to discover he'd already used the diaper. I used underpants a few times, but not consistently.

Until now.

Disclaimer: this worked for him, but may not work for other kids. If you're like me, you're searching for any and all experiences with potty-training, so this may be worth a try. I think it's still important to keep in mind that each child is different and you need to pay attention to your own child's cues.

After changing diapers for 26 years, yes, that's right, 26 years, I decided that this summer was THE summer to potty-train. My son is 7 and we want to enroll him in school potty-trained. I didn't want others to deal with changing diapers. And, I also knew that he was more than capable of potty-training based on his actions and understanding. He was simply comfortable wearing diapers and making us change him.

(A side note: When I had him, I thought he was going to be happy all the time and always easy-going--that was the stereotype. But I've learned he can be very stubborn and have tunnel-vision for what he wants. He is happy a lot of the time, but not always, especially if he doesn't get what he wants).

This post is already too long. In my next post, I'll start into the process I used to potty-train.